Blast-furnace.



Np. 698,248. Patented VApr. 22, i902.

E. BERTRAND. BLVAST FUBN-ACE. (Application led. May 1. 1899.) *l (NoModel.) S'Sheets-Sheet I.

Patented Apr. 22,1902.r

E. BERTRAND. 'BLAST FunNAce. (Appu'caeion med may 1. 139s.)

3 sheets-sheet 2;

'(No Model.)

"Nog 698,243.

Patnted Apr. 22, |902. E. BERTRAND. `BLAST FunNAcE. (Agpumn med my 1'.1899.

v(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

WMM.

rue unam: PETERS to, PHUTDLITHO.. wAsNmvToN. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNST BERTRAND, OF KLADNO, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, ASSIGNOR TO THEWELLMAN-SEAVER ENGINEERING COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO,

'A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

BLAST-FU RNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,248, dated April22, 1902.

Application filed May 1, 1899. Serial No., '715 ,202. (No model.)

T all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERNST BERTRAND, a citizen of the United States, andaresident of Kladno, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary,have invented certainImprovements in BlastFur naces, ofwhich the following is aspecification.

, tially uniform draft throughout the different portions of the masscontained therein, and a still'further object being to prevent ormaterially lessenthe loadingof the escaping gases with dust, andrthusprevent the rapidaccumulation of such dust inthe washers, hot-blaststoves, and steam boiler flues through which the gases from the furnaceare usually passed in order to utilizetheir heat,

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a view, partly in elevation andpartly in vertical section, of the upper portion of a blastfurnace andmechanism employed in connec.

tion therewith, the whole being constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan View on the line a a, Fig. l. Fig.3 is an enlarged transverse section on the line b b, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 isan enlarged transverse section on the line d d, Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is aview similar to Fig. l, but illustrating a modification of thefurnace-feeding mechansm.

In an ordinary blast-furnace having at the htop a fixed hopper and abell movable vertically, so as to open or close the bottom of thishopper, the furnace cannot be charged full; otherwise it will beimpossible to lower the the bell. Consequently the material must fallfrom the bell onto the mass in the furnace through a distance at leastequal to that of the movement of the bell in opening, which has the eectnot only of breaking the soft or brittle coke, coal, or ore, but also ofpacking the material ini the furnace closer than it should be, so thatit is difficult for the gases to ind their way through said materialuniascend at and near the walls of the furnace and that there is not asfree and extended a ow of gas at the center of the same as is desirable.This feature isthe more pronounced the more the side walls of the upperpart of the vfurnace are flared or inclined outwardly, for the materialwhen sinking down into the furnace will spread more and more sidewise onaccount of the increasing section of the furnace and will thereforebecome looser and looser at the sides, lwhile it remains compact at thecenter. Consequently the gases will be more apt to pass through'thematerial at the sides of the charge than at the center. Ithereforeprovide in the upper portionof the furnace a central structurearound-which the fuel, ore, and limestone or other materi'alconstitutingthe furnace charge is fed, so that said material as it passes downwardlybeyond the central structure can flow inwardly beneath the same and canthus spread centrally as well as outwardly. This central structure hasradiating arms, which serve to further divide the upper portion of thecharge and prevent the close packing of thesame, and both the centralstructure and the radiating arms are by preference hollow and open atthe bottom, said radiating arms communicating with the central hollowstructure and also with a discharge-ring at the top of the furnacestructure, whereby the central structure audits l arms constituteconduits or passages for the escape of the gases, thereby insuring draftthrough the central portion of the furnace charge, as well as throughthe outer portions of the same, and effecting substantially uniformaction upon all portions of the charge in the furnace.

In the drawings, 1 represents the upper portion of the furnace-wall,upon which is the hollow annular box 2, which constitutes thegasdischarge ring of the furnace, this box supporting an annular` trough3, which contains water, sand, or other medium for sealing the annularfiange 4, which depends from the top plate 5 of the feed-hopper 6, thelatter consisting of an annular casing adapted to close down upon a bellor cone 7, which is fixedly mounted in a central position at thefurnace-top.

The hopper G is connected by suitable rods 8 to a lifter bar or frame 9,which may be acted upon by hoisting mechanism of any availablecharacter, so that said hopper can be raised and lowered.

On the top of the hopper G are rails for the wheels of thecharging-bogie, which has the usual conical bottom 10 andvertically-movable shell or mantle 11, and in the top of the hopper isan annular opening 12, so disposed as to receive the contents of thebogie when the mantle 11 is lifted, and to this openingis fitted anannular valve 13, said valve being connected by chains 14 or othersuitable means to brackets 15, depending from a lifter bar or frame 1G,which can be raised and lowered by any suitable form of hoistingmechanism, the brackets 15 having projecting bars 17, which are adaptedto engage with bars 18 on the mantle of the bogie, so that the effect ofthe raising of the bar or frame 1G isy iii-st to lift the annular valve13 and then when the bars 17 and 1S come into engagement to lift themantle of the bogie, so as to discharge the contents of the latterthrough the annular opening 12 in the top of the hopper, reverseconditions accompanying the descent of the bar or frame 16.

When as many loads of material as the hopper is designed to accommodatehave been discharged into the same, the hopper is lifted, so as-topermit its contents to slide down the sides of the cone or bell 7 intothe top of the furnace, thus permitting the feeding of the latterwithout a long drop of the material into the same and without thecompacting effect upon the material due to such long drop.

Beneath the cone or bell 7 and extending down into the upper portion ofthe furnace is a central depending hollow structure 20, open at thebottom and communicating with a series of hollow radiating arms 2l, fourof which are shown in the present instance, although any desired numbermay be used. Each of these hollow arms is open at the bot.- tom, so asto communicate with the interior of the furnace,and is in communicationat its outer end with the annular gas-discharge ring 2. Hence saidcentral chamber and its hollow arms provide for the free escape of thegases from those portions of the charge beneath the same and insuredraft through the central portion of the charge as well as through theouter portions of the same. The central casing and its hollow arms alsoserve to prevent the compacting of the material solidly in the furnace,since the material as lit passes down below the hollow arms 21 andcentral casing 2O flows beneath the same, and thus loosens up the mass,so that the gas can penetrate all portions of the same.

Those portions of the hollow arms 21 which extend from the bell or cone7 outwardly to the gas-ring 2 have heavy arched caps 22, which serve asarmor to prevent injury to these portions of the arms by the flow ofsuccessive portions of the charge onto and around the same.

In order to provide for the discharge of those gases which rise in closeproximity of the furnace-walls, the annular gas-discharge ring 2 has atits lower inner corner an inlet 23, as shown in Fig. 4.

In the modied construction of furnace shown in Fig. 5 the cone or bell 7is shorter than that shown in Fig. 1, and there is above the same afixed hopper 25, the bottom of which is closed by avertically-movablecone or bell 2(3,which can be raised, so as to close the hopper, orlowered, so as to discharge the contents of said hopper into the spacebetween the cone 7 and the upper portion of the casing, the constructionotherwise being similar to that herinabove described.

The central gas-chamber 20 may be dispensed with and the hollow arms 21extended so as to meet at the center of the furnace, if desired; but theuse of the central chamber is preferred.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent- 1. A blast-furnace having a feed bell or cone and avertically-movable hopper above the same, said hopper having a normallyclosed top and being provided with an external seal wherebyits verticalmovement is per mitted without causing escape of gas.

2. A blast-furnace having a hopper with a valve in the top of the same,a feeding-bogie, and supports therefor in combination with a singlemeans for successively raising said valve and discharging the contentsof said feed-bogie.

3. A blast-'furnace having a feed-hopper with a vertically-movable valvein the top of the same, a feed-bogie, supports therefor, a shell ormantle on said bogie, and a lifting bar or frame connected to thehopper-valve and having portions for engaging and lifting the shell ofthe feed-bogie after the valve has been lifted to a certain extent.

et. A blast-furnace having at its upper portion an outer gas-dischargechamber, a central hollow gas-receivin g chamber and hollow arms open atthe bottom and connecting said central gas-receiving chamber with theouter gas-chamber whereby the gases can escape both through the centralchamber and through the hollow arms.

5. A blast-furnace having at the top a feed bell or cone and below thesame a central structure with radiating arms extending down- ICO IIO

throughout their extent so as to receive from the material in thefurnace.

8. A blast-'furnacebaving a stationary feedbell in the ripper portion,'a central gas-collectin g chamber below said feed-bell, and terminatingin the upper portion of the furnace,

an outer gas-discharge chamber and lhollow arms leading from saidcentral gas-collecting chamber to the outer disolnargre-chamber.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNST BERTRAND.

lVitnesses:

ADOLPH FISCHER, RUDOLF LANG.

gas

